Documentary 'Bully' earns PG-13 rating after weeks of controversy

by AP with Paige Osburn

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The MPAA received 200,000 signatures from bullied student Katy Butler, urging reversal of "R" rating for "Bully" film at the offices of the Motion Picture Association of America on March 7, 2012 in Sherman Oaks, California. Jesse Grant/Getty Images For MPAA

After intense lobbying, the MPAA rating for controversial documentary "Bully" has been lowered from R to PG-13. An edited version of the film will be released April 13.

But that rating comes with some compromises.

The Weinstein Co. says three uses of an expletive were removed to earn the PG-13 rating.

The "Bully" rating saga began when the MPAA gave the film an R rating for its explicit language, declining to change it when the Weinstein Co. appealed.

Advocates have railed against the rating, saying that a film about the abuses of bullying is meaningless if the demographic it covers can't see it.